Floating screeds are used to strike off and finish concrete floors or other horizontal surfaces. In general, a floating screed has a heavy planar float with an elongated edge defining a blade. The blade forms the leading edge of the screed that cuts through a volume of plastic concrete as the screed is pulled therethrough. Excess concrete that builds up on the blade side of the screed is raked away by workers standing in the unfinished concrete. As the float moves over an area of the concrete cut by the blade, the float serves to smooth the concrete thereby leaving a finished region of concrete that should be smooth, level, and at a specified elevation.
To achieve the desired elevation, the screed operator is constantly pushing down or pulling up on the screed to adjust the position of the screed's blade edge. However, prior art screeds link the screed's blade edge and float such that the pitch of the float tends to track the pitch of the blade edge which can affect the pitch and target elevation of the finished region of concrete. For example, linking of the blade edge and float is typically accomplished by means of well known rigid couplings or by means of stiff, resilient couplings such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,379,080 and 6,779,945. Furthermore, since the blade edge and float are rigidly or resiliently linked, the screed operator's efforts required to change pitch can be substantial.